Welcome to Tuesday and another edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! Where music from all over the place meets thoughts, ideas, and realizations from the best place! Like that favorite blanket in the winter, it's the blog that warms you all over...We think you're gonna like it here...
Today on Tuesday's Musical Notes we continue to explore...
Flash! Dateline February 9, 2021!
To celebrate the birth of one of the kindest and most generous people we know, we dedicate today's Tuesday's Musical Notes to you! (Hope this adds to the bday present we gave or will give you depending on when you read today's blog...)
So let the celebration begin with the song that hit #1 the week of your birthday all the way back in 1990. (It hit #1 on the 10th...and it works for today's blog so let's not get hung up on a technicality shall we?).
Released on November 28, 1989 "Opposites Attract" was the 5th single released from one of the hottest albums around at the time. "Opposites Attract" climbed the charts to reach #1 in February of 1990. It was the 5th single released from the debut album by Paula Abdul, Forever Your Girl, which had just hit #1 on the album charts on the 3rd of February. "Opposites Attract" became the 4th #1 hit from that album making Abdul a member of an elite group of musicians who had 4 singles reach the top spot from a single album. Those artists were Whitney Houston (Whitney), George Michael, (Faith), and Michael Jackson, (Thriller) (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Man in the Mirror" (Michael Jackson),
Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Thriller" (Michael Jackson), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rockin' Robin" (Bobby Day, Michael Jackson), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "We Are the World" (USA for Africa)). (Mariah Carey (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "All I Want for Christmas is You" (Mariah Carey)), Janet Jackson (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" (Janet Jackson)), Usher, and Katy Perry would later join the club of single-album 4 hitters)
The music video for "Opposites Attract" garnered a great deal of attention as well. It won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video and was nominated for Breakthrough Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. (you remember MTV...It was the station that played music videos and nothing but music videos...all the time!!! Yet again, I digress and it's Katy's birthday so we'll stop right there...) Folks from Disney were hired to animate MC Skat Kat, et. al. for the music video under Paula Abdul's supervision as she created the choreography. The video also serves as an homage to another classic human and animated animal pairing... Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse - Anchors Aweigh (1945)
The idea behind the song is based on the scientific principle of opposite magnetic poles being drawn together when in close proximity. The song suggests that a similar attraction can occur between two people who have very dissimilar tastes. These folks' attraction to each other seems to be exponentially amplified in large part to those opposite characteristics. Hmmm...I wonder if we've ever heard of that occurring before?
The first part of the above passage is very familiar. We have included all the way through verse 21 because it puts the "God so loved" verse into complete context and perspective. (As all scripture should be when it is quoted, prime example? Philippians 4...the ENTIRE chapter, not just the 13th verse...Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 4 NASB/AMP/KJV). In reading all of the John 3 passage one may ask the question; "Why would God go to this length?" The answer is simple...Who'd-a thought, He really loves us!
At the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve made a poor decision. They disobeyed the 1 rule God had given them. They were living in perfection, in God's presence but they didn't resist temptation. Don't judge Adam and Eve...look in the mirror lately? Because sinful man will die if placed in the presence of Holy God, Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden. Their sin had placed them as polar opposites to God. God literally had to place them two steps forward while He took two steps back. But as the saying and song go...opposites attract...
God is Holy and they were not
Our sin was serious, God said so too
He paid the way so we could make it through...
(This is not an actual song lyric if this were an actual song lyric you would have received instructions from the Emergency MusicInfo System as to when to sing and dance...)
At this point, we'll say it again because we want to make it clear. God is holy. God is perfect. God's attraction and pursuit of us are not because we are the opposite of Him. We are NOT holy Nor perfect. God is attracted to us because He made us for the purpose of having a relationship with us. He knows us. He loves us because we are made in His image.
We had the opportunity to live in the perfection of God and we decided not to do so. But in our rebellion, we realize that something is missing in our lives. Because God loves us so much, He made a way for us to overcome the rebellion and satisfy the attraction that we feel towards Him. God demonstrated His love through Jesus' death via crucifixion, providing a means by which our relationship with Him could be forever restored. "...It ain't fiction, it's a natural fact..." The apostle Paul explained it in his letter to the Roman church like this:
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5 NASB/AMP/KJV
So you see friend, as we take two steps forward...so does He. He is with us at every moment in our lives and desires to have a restored relationship with us. We only have to admit that we are sinners, believe that Jesus died for those sins, and Jesus' death serves as the restorative factor in our relationship with God. After this, we must confess that we will serve Jesus and only Him for the rest of our lives. Yes, there will be times when we succumb to our previous sinful nature. But God assures that Jesus died for those sins as well. His love is without condition and without a timetable. He is pursuing you and waits patiently...
No matter if...
An appropriate prayer to end today's blog might very well be:
"Father God, as I pursue You, provide for me the opportunity to see the joy-adjacent moments in my life. Help me see those moments that are the opposite of my nature. I ask that you thwart the sin-adjacent moments that will come my way and strengthen me as I take two steps forward and take no steps back..."
Happy Birthday, Katy!!! We celebrate you today with YOUR Tuesday's Musical Note special blog!
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.
...Hey, Hey what do you say? Someone took your plans away. So what's all the fuss? Remember...while there are usually 3 sides to every story our goal is to discover the truth that always resides where God is. We can discover that truth every time if we will have confidence in the One who provides our strength and wisdom as He provides the plan.
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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